Modifying or building my own Melodica – Asking for your best tips and tricks!
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Hey Daren and all you melodica lovers!
As many others I was very inspired by your self-made instruments and want to try to build my own! I’ve been playing Swedish & European traditional folk music for many years on mainly guitar and harmonica. I’ve been looking for a new melody instrument and the tone of your melodicas have the perfect sound for me!
I have been reading up on the forum and watched your videos and I have some questions!
Firstly regarding the reeds, you mentioned in another thread that the reeds are from Harmonikas. Did you use the DIX INOX or some other model from them? Sounds amazing!
The black wooden melodica you used in your video playing Bach Cello Suite 1 on youtube looks alot like a Yamaha p37d or Hohner performer 37. Did you use the skeleton and parts from a bought melodica for this one or is it also 3D-printed?
I’m thinking of trying to modify an existing melodica and if that doesn’t work out take the same route as you Daren and try to 3D model a skeleton and parts myself.
If anyone has attempted a similar build or modification – I’d love to hear your tips and tricks and things to keep in mind!
Kind regards
I don’t think the reeds from Harmonikas are still on their website. When I speak to them, we call them melodica reeds – they used to have a page for them which had a picture of a melodica next to them. You can mention my name and they should know which ones you want.
I’d start with modifying or using parts from an existing melodica at first. It is about 5% of the work of building one entirely from scratch, and easy to replace parts if/when you need to. My ebony melodica uses most of the mechanisms from the Yamaha P37D. This includes the reeds, which surprises some people. They don’t have the same refined sound as Harmonikas reeds, but they’re loud, easy to replace, and I like the sound of them!
Thank you Daren for you swift reply! 🙂
That’s great to know! I will ask for Darens melodica reeds. 🙂
Wow that’s interesting! I wonder how much the wooden-case & keys alters the sound compared to the plastic original. Maybe building a new wooden case would be a good first challenge for me.
For your ebony melodica, did you build new keys entirely or modifiy the original keys with ebony parts?
If you’re building a wooden case for an existing melodica, there’s 2 methods for the keys. Start by leaving the same keys on. Then once the wooden case is built, you can use one of 2 methods:
1. The cheap and cheerful way – if you’re sticking to the standard colours, ie leaving the white notes white and the black notes black, you can modify the existing keys and put a layer of wood or thin bone on top. The colours need to be the same as the colours of the keys you’re modifying, so you can use stain or bleach.
2. The pro way – 3D print the keys, leaving room for a top layer of wood of at least a few millimeters thick. Print in a colour that matches your top material. And make the design a bit thicker than the original keys so there’s enough rigidity.
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